Everyone was all hyped up about sapphire crystal displays a few years ago, then manufacturers realized what a complete pain in the butt it was to manufacture synthetic sapphire at an industrial scale. There have been a few phones and watches with this super hard material covering the screen, but Zagg offers a "Sapphire Defense" screen protector, too. That makes it sound like a sapphire glass screen protector, and the high price backs that assumption up. However, JerryRigEverything just posted a video revealing it to be nothing more than treated plastic.

If you're not familiar with JerryRigEverything's torture test videos, he always uses Moh's Hardness Picks to test the scratch resistance of the screen. Hardened glass displays usually scratch at level five or six. Sapphire, which is one of the hardest natural materials, scratches at a level eight or nine. The video tests the hardness of three products that advertise sapphire: a Tissot watch, the special edition HTC U Ultra, and Zagg's $50 Sapphire Defense hybrid glass screen protector.

The U Ultra and Tissot watch scratch at level eight and nine, as expected. That's better than glass screens, so you're unlikely to scratch one of these devices unless you've got diamonds in your pocket on a regular basis. Zagg's $50 screen protector scratches at a level three. That's what you'd expect from plastic, and indeed, it appears to be made of plastic. When exposed to fire, it melts and burns. Sapphire does not do that, nor does glass (at these temperatures).

So what's going on here? Zagg's packaging says the screen protector is "infused with sapphire." JerryRigEverything notes there are traces of aluminum oxide (sapphire) in the plastic. So, Zagg wants you to assume this is sapphire glass, which it is not. It's not even glass. I feel like this goes a little beyond marketing spin and into straight up deception. Shame on you, Zagg.

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4Ui812

Glass does melt 😉

Bob

Jet fuel can't melt glass

Cory S

a camp fire can melt glass... I did it all the time as a kid. A BIC lighter however, cannot set it on fire.

YaKillaCJ

So I guess I ain't the only one who used to toss things to the fire as a youngling

Suicide_Note

It can if you set the fuel on fire first.

Glass melts at about 1350°F, while jet fuel burns at 1500°F.

Michael Shorey

but not at the temperature of a lighter flame

4Ui812

I know what he meant 😁

portalpirate

He said it wouldn't catch on fire. Glass melts, but can't be used to light a bonfire, lol.

Hayden Pearce

Just to be "that guy", glass melts at well above the combustion temperature of things likely to be burned in a bonfire.

To be "that guy" even more, it will in fact even burn. Granted, not in a bonfire...but hey.

Not really, no. One is specifically just affordable high quality skins and the other is overpriced screen protectors and plastic wraps.

John Doe

That is like saying Apple and Google aren't competitors. They both are in the business of smartphone protection. dbrand wants more people to ditch cases and put skins on to make more money and Zagg wants people to buy their accessories (cases, etc.)

Jay

Uh, skins ≠ screen protectors. They're in the same market of accessories, sure, but that's where their similarities end. What you're doing is playing semantics to try and make a point.

John Doe

Zagg also sells cases. If Zagg went bankrupt, dbrand would benefit and vice versa. They are competitors maybe not direct competitors but there is overlap.

Peanut

If someone wanted a case, they would get a case and there are thousands of brands and manufacturers of those. dbrand does not make cases. dbrand would benefit from Slickwraps going out of business. Unless dbrand is marketing their skins are impact resistance stuff that protects a device the same amount a traditional case would, they are not direct competitors with Zagg.

Disclosure: I am apathetic towards dbrand. Love their precision but their "robots"/marketing can go to hell.

John Doe

Disclosure: I never used Zagg or dbrand products and the more they shove their "sponsored" and sneaky advertising in the content I follow, the more I dislike them.

tnt

I'll definitely agree with you on that point.

Peanut

dbrand doesn't sell screen protectors, Mr. Tinfoilhat

John Doe

That doesn't mean they are not competitors. dbrand sells skins to protect smartphones and Zagg sells cases and screen protectors so when you go to buy something to protect your smartphone you have to decide between skins, cases, screen protectors, etc. hence, the term competitors.

TehnoGuy

They don't have screen protectors.

John Doe

Yeah they do but that does not even matter. You don't have to sell the same exact products for companies to be competitors. I can sell vacuums and you can sell brooms or mobs or whatever and we would be competitors.

Matthew Rebmann

You're REALLY trying, John. But you should probably just let it rest. You lost this round.

John Doe

What round? Nothing that I have said was wrong. It is up to people and their opinions on the subject but I am glad to see that I have a higher moral standard :P

Yes, that was 4 years ago. I don't believe that they have had any with screen protectors for the last two generations of flagships.

Well... Today I learned that Huffy Bikes, Fisher Price, and Harley-Davidson are competitors because they make things that help you get from point A to point B. Even Jelly Belly and Foster Farms because they both make food products.

John Doe

They are competitors... if people decide to ditch their harley-davidson motorcycles for huffy bikes to cut down on pollution, harley-davidson would take a hit.

That was good example, thanks. :)

Aweso

That makes as much sense as Castrol being a competitor to Glade because both make products for cars.

John Doe

They are both in the business of phone accessories and protection (skins, cases, screen protectors, etc.)

No one is going to buy a skin and put a case on it. You will either choose to buy a case or put a skin.

Aweso

Why do you bring cases to a glass protection discussion? Zagg does glass protection for the screen and dbrand does skins for the body.

John Doe

Zagg sells a lot more than screen protectors and obviously this affects the entire brand.

YaKillaCJ

Exactly, I get a DBrand skin to go over my regular screen protector. For aesthetic purposes only.

Hayden Pearce

...you skin your screen?

YaKillaCJ

I have a OnePlus One with a Bamboo Styleswap. I then put a RhinoShield screen protector and a DBrand bamboo skin on top of that.

Btw the RhinoShield really does work for real impact resistance. I don't have a case and have dropped and impacted that phone several times.

ccccc

still don't understand what that has to do with a $50 piece of plastic that melts and scratched easily

tnt

They have "sapphire glass" protectors for other phones as well.

ZettabyteGamer

This doesn't warrant any type of disclosure, this post is simply pointing at a misleading piece of shit product.

John Doe

Which I agree on, it is a piece of shit LoL but that does not mean following basic rules of ethics should be thrown out the window.

Benjamin Walburn

There's nothing ethical about creating an issue where there is none.

John Doe

If you say so.

tnt

So if CNN reports on Volkswagen's misleading emissions information, are they supposed to disclose every other car manufacturer that pays for ads on CNN?

This is simply reporting news that is pertinent to smartphones; this isn't some sort of competitive move. I get what you're trying to say here, but said rules of ethics don't apply to this scenario.

John Doe

Yes, they are supposed to disclose that. Especially when they specifically mention another car manufacturer just like JerryRigEverything did in the video.

ZettabyteGamer

He mentioned Dbrand because they gave him the HTC U Ultra, it isn't available yet so he wouldn't have been able to make the video without them. By the way, the people who buy cases and the ones who buy skins are completely different audiences.

Suicide_Note

Why would there need to be any disclosure? JerryRig did the test, and AP is reporting on it. Simple as that. You're trying to create some kind of controversy out of absolutely nothing.

A lot of sites promote JerryRigEverything, and dbrand is just one of many Zagg competitors. Nothing to see here.

asrat_24

Seriously one of the dumbest people I've seen on AP

John Doe

Well that is disrespectful for no reason. But I guess you showed me who is dumb, didn't you? LoL

dblock

Not really, no. Zack is known for testing the hardness of phone screens, and has done several other past videos on sapphire, including testing other products' supposed sapphire components. AP also posts about Zack's shenanigans all the time prior to this. Zagg just happens to be the company advertising a "sapphire" screen protector. Matters not who the company is to Zack, he just seems to have a fascination with whether or not things advertised as sapphire actually are sapphire or contain a component that is. And for good reason, as sapphire is an expensive material to use and justifies charging high prices for products that utilize it. dbrand may sponsor some of Zack's videos and sponsor AP, but it isn't their fault that Zagg is lying about what their overpriced plastic screen protector is made out of.

John Doe

All of that has nothing to do with having a disclaimer. Zack even specifically mentions dbrand in the video. I think he mentioned dbrand in almost every video I watched from him.

dblock

All of that has everything to do with why there needs to be no disclaimer. Zagg just happens to be the company that put out the "sapphire" screen protector, "competitor" of dbrand or not.

John Doe

So why mention dbrand in the video? They provided the HTC device for him and he has no disclosure anywhere I have looked on that video.

antonio cesar

you are ignoring the fact he implied it was better to buy a normal plastic protector, which costs pennies, over an overpriced one which behaves the same.
the dbrand ones, CERTAINLY dosent cost pennies, nor they sell them alone if im not mistaken

dblock

I mean if they sent the phone and are sponsoring the video, I'm assuming that's why? I haven't had a chance to watch the video yet.

ZettabyteGamer

" They provided the HTC device for him and he has no disclosure anywhere" He verbally disclosed they sent him the device, It wasn't even legally required for him to tell anyone in this instance.

John Doe

actually you are there are FTC rules on proper disclosure of advertisers and what he said was not enough.

Pnkr0cker

DBrand isn't even mentioned in the article, nor does AP go out of their way to promote them. I smell a troll.

John Doe

They are mentioned in the video that is in said article. You should spend more time looking at all the content that is in the article and less time calling people how are pointing out an ethical dilemma as a troll (I am sure a lot of trolls are doing that these days /s)

Gjorgi Lazarovski

Show me proof where dbrand is currently selling screen protectors please. I'll shove up a brand new s8+ up my ass if you can do that.

Felonious Monk ✓ᵛᵉʳᶦᶠᶦᵉᵈ

I think people would pay to see that. If you promise to post a video, we'll call up dbrand and try to convince them to sell screen protectors.

Gjorgi Lazarovski

and those troll robots over at dbrand will probably do it so, guess I'm fucked (quite literally)

In his defense he did say, "currently selling"..I don't see any screen protectors "currently" on dbrand website....maybe I've over looked them.

John Doe

They do, I believe it is included with their skins. They are still selling Nexus 5X skins so yeah lol

Reginald

Right and I understand what you are saying, but..can I go to the website and purchase a screen protector? Or do I have to purchase a skin in order to receive the screen protector (which clearly no one knows if it comes with it lol, does anyone buy skins around here)? Can I put a screen protector in the cart on their website.

Peanut

The Nexus 5X doesn't include a screen protector based on their how-to video. You're linking to a 4 year old device.

John Doe

I meant Nexus 5

Gjorgi Lazarovski

No they don't. Source: Me buying dbrand skins since the MKBHD deal

John Doe

Well they have videos showing how to install their screen protector on the Nexus 5 and they are still selling nexus 5 skins. I am guessing they include it with the skin.

Source: dbrand

Gjorgi Lazarovski

Once again, no they don't. Bought a dbrand concrete skin for the Nexus 5 back in August. You get a cleaning cloth and the skin only. They also started including some artwork, but THEY DO NOT CURRENTLY SELL NOR SHIP SCREEN PROTECTORS WITH THEIR SKINS. Please do research, like go ask them on Twitter they should reply pretty quickly.

I personally will never buy a Zagg product again. Not that I have in the past...

Rod

If you haven't bought anything from them, how are you not buying "again"?

Felonious Monk ✓ᵛᵉʳᶦᶠᶦᵉᵈ

How can you never buy something again if you have never bought it before?

Julie Ankrom

`Take some more tea,' the March Hare said to Alice, very earnestly. `I've had nothing yet,' Alice replied in an offended tone, `so I can't take more.' `You mean you can't take LESS,' said the Hatter: `it's very easy to take MORE than nothing.'

I like JRE, but I would take this with a grain of salt... I can still remember when he falsely stated Gorilla Glass 5 on the Note 7 was softer than GG4 ("basically as soft as plastic"), only to later realize that his pick was contaminated by his sharpening tools.

Felonious Monk ✓ᵛᵉʳᶦᶠᶦᵉᵈ

I remember when he snapped a Nexus 6P in half. Twice. That's why a lot of people don't like him.

dep

It is how business works. Nothing strange.

Roman reigns can’t wrestle

And this is why I spend <$10 for a multi Pack of generic screen protectors in amazon

Stephen Diniz

These are the types of tests we deserve to make sure we don't blow $50 on that terrible "Sapphire" infused screen protector.. Hopefully this puts pressure on manufacturers from producing *complete* garbage.. As he said: "so don't buy this". :)

me me

In the Trump era we get Trump quality of truth from Zagg.

Spinkick

people need to give up on screen protectors these days.

bonelesscheese

Zagg is overpriced garbage. I actually use iCarez tempered glass, found it on Amazon- complete with strange Chinese-to-English translations such as "Care you mobile, care you more!" and "iCarez cares what you care, even more than what you care." But honestly I have never had a tempered glass as good as these. I keep my Nexus 6P in my tool caddy when I'm working and still have yet to get a scratch on it. I got one for my 14 year old son's 5X and his has no signs of scratching or scuffing either. We've both had these on our phones for about 2 months now and it's held up better than anything I've used before, and they were only like $7.95 each. Beats the hell out of paying $50 for plastic lol.... BTW I have no affiliation w/ iCarez whatsoever. Just saying that I know how tedious it can be to look for a decent one online so anyone else looking for one should consider theirs. I used to work for one of the big 4 carriers and installed literally thousands of Zagg screen protectors at 40 bucks a pop and these customers would come back into our store a month later to pay their bill and they'd be all scratched to hell

Jan Matz

But it is definitely shatter proof. You may drop it of an airplane and it won't break. Well the phone it's attached to probably will.

Da Fuq

It's Mohs' hardness scale ;)

Vedang Jadhav

I looked on Amazon it already has only 1 star ! Looking at that no one will buy it i think !

Daniel Marcus

Considering I can pick up a 9H Tempered Glass screen protector for approximately $10, I don't know why I'd bother with this.

DJ Subterrain

For the people discussing the heat test, I'm pretty sure it's to see if a phone which gets hot in use will end up damaging the display.